Op-Ed: Heard of the Chagos Archipelago in Mauritius and the Seychelles Islands? If you have watched George Galloway's Sputnik on Russia Today you may already be aware of these islands and the plight of former citizens.In April NPR reported "One of the most important U.S. military bases in the world sits in the middle of the Indian Ocean on an atoll called Diego Garcia. It's the largest of the Chagos Islands, a British territory far from any mainland that is spread out across hundreds of miles. Thousands of people, called Chagossians, used to live on Diego Garcia."

These people were let down by both Tory and Labour governments on the UK decades ago.

For more than 40 years the Chagossians have sought justice. For the USA, its military and the CIA, their island was a perfect staging post for many wars and rendition cases as it is isolated, but with easy access to Africa, Asia and the Middle East.

We came across a Chagos refugee support group on Twitter after signing their petition and wrote the following report early in 2015.

It is now June and little has changed but it may soon.

On Monday former residents of the Chagos Islands who were "forcibly removed from their homeland more than 40 years ago will take their long legal battle to the UK’s highest court."

Six-years ago, in October 2008, the House of Lords in the UK overturned previous decisions made by the high court and court of appeal allowing islanders and their descendants to go back.

Now they will challenge that decision at the Supreme Court.

So first a little background.

"Officially part of the British Indian Ocean Territory, the Chagos were home to the Chagossians for more than a century and a half until the United Kingdom evicted them in the early 1970s and allowed the United States to build a military base on Diego Garcia, the largest of the Chagos Islands. Since 1971, only the atoll of Diego Garcia is inhabited, and only by military and civilian contracted personnel" Wikipedia.

The Chagos refugee support petition starts with a little history:

The Chagos archipelago is situated in the Indian Ocean, mid-way between India and Africa. Some 2,000 people lived on the archipelago, the majority on the largest island of Diego Garcia. Their ancestry on the islands went back to the 18th century.During the 1960s and 1970s British governments, both Labour and Tory, tricked and expelled the entire population of the Chagos, a British colonial dependency, so that Diego Garcia, the main island of their homeland, could be given to the United States as the site for a military base. This act of mass kidnapping by the British government was carried out in high secrecy, along with the conspiracy that preceded it. The last islander was deported in 1973. The 'deportation or forcible transfer of a population...a crime against humanity', is according to the words of Article 7 of the Statute of the International Criminal Court.

These displaced people still in Mauritius and the Seychelles continue to suffer in poverty to this day and continue to exist in sadness, longing to return to their homeland. Many have died in misery, living in the hope of going home. In 2002, travelling with their new British passports, many of the Chagossians began to arrive in Britain, to bring their campaign to London and to escape the poverty of Mauritius. All of them wanted to return to the Chagos Islands rather than be in England. It is estimated that more than 2,000 Chagossians now live on the margins of UK society mainly in the town of Crawley, with a smaller community in Manchester. In both places they struggle to reconstruct their lives.

Meanwhile dozens of jobs on Diego Garcia are being advertised in the Philippines, including posts for electricians, cashiers, mechanics, stock clerks, janitors, welders, firefighters, engineers and massage therapists. There have been no reports of these jobs being advertised in Mauritius, the Seychelles or the UK, where most of the Chagossian community live. We can’t help but wonder why they have not been given priority for these positions in their own land. Since being illegally evicted, very few Chagossians have been able to get jobs at the foreign base in their homeland despite many trying. The hope is that the islanders be allowed to return to their islands as soon as possible before more of them die in a British imposed exile, never to see their homeland again.

The refugees UK website aims:

To provide help and support to refugees from Chagos Archipelago in Mauritius and the Seychelles Islands, Crawley and other parts of the United Kingdom and to promote their welfare and protect their interests.

To work towards the achievement of the right of the Chagos Islanders to return to their native land.

Declassified messages between the British and U.S. governments show a plot to wipe all human life off the islands to make way for the U.S. military base.

We implore you to make amends for the 'crime against humanity' (Article 7 of the International Criminal Court), which was carried out by your predecessors, both Tory and Labour. In the early 1970s, the British government forcible implemented the secretive transfer of Chagossians to a life of extreme poverty in Mauritius and the Seychelles in order to accommodate a military base for the USA. Many of these displaced people still suffer in poverty and those now in Crawley and Manchester, UK, live on the margins of British society, continuing to live in sadness, longing to return to their homeland. Many have died in misery, living in the hope of going home. Honourable Sirs, we ask you to let British justice prevail by doing all in your power to undo this injustice and actively pushing for the islanders to be resettled in their homeland as soon as possible.

Imagine being displaced from your homeland in such a way? The arrogance of the UK and in turn the USA.

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